Those who can, play. Those who are too fat to, talk.
In 1998, the Boston Red Sox went 92-70, a record that would have easily won the American League Central or West. Unfortunately, they played in the AL East, and they finished 22 games behind the 114-48 Yankees. That Red Sox team holds a record that I made up: the furthest out of first place a team finished with a record that would have won another division. Well, that record could be in trouble. Read the rest of this entry »
So the Cardinals and Astros have a little two-game series starting tomorrow, and with the Astros lead in the Wild Card down to one game, it has some major playoff ramifications. So the questions becomes, how hard do the Cards try? Read the rest of this entry »
Another thing from Jerry Crasnick’s chat yesterday:
Sean (Los Angeles): Hey Jerry, I never used to have anything against the White Sox, but now with the MLB package, I hear their announcers all the time. They are the cockiest, most biased I have ever heard, by far. I’d love for the Sox to miss the playoffs just because of them. Have you heard them? He gone!!
Jerry Crasnick: Sean,
Nothing personal against Hawk Harrelson and Darrin Jackson, but yes, they can be tough to take if you’re an impartial observer watching White Sox games. The guy who runs the heavethehawk Web site sure doesn’t like them very much.
The eighth of my random thoughts for tonight, again with possible quotes from the Joe Morgan and Jerry Crasnick chats from today (see this entry for links to the chats):
The AL Central Race: Read the rest of this entry »
The seventh of my random thoughts for tonight, again with possible quotes from the Joe Morgan and Jerry Crasnick chats from today (see this entry for links to the chats):
AL MVP: Read the rest of this entry »
The sixth of my random thoughts for tonight, again with possible quotes from the Joe Morgan and Jerry Crasnick chats from today (see this entry for links to the chats):
NL MVP: Read the rest of this entry »
The fifth of my random thoughts for tonight, again with possible quotes from the Joe Morgan and Jerry Crasnick chats from today (see this entry for links to the chats):
AL Cy Young Award: Read the rest of this entry »
The fourth of my random thoughts for tonight, again with possible quotes from the Joe Morgan and Jerry Crasnick chats from today (see this entry for links to the chats):
NL Cy Young Award: Read the rest of this entry »
The third of my random thoughts for tonight, again with possible quotes from the Joe Morgan and Jerry Crasnick chats from today (see this entry for links to the chats):
NL Rookie of the Year: Read the rest of this entry »
The second of my random thoughts for tonight, again with possible quotes from the Joe Morgan and Jerry Crasnick chats from today (see this entry for links to the chats):
AL Rookie of the Year: Read the rest of this entry »
One of the things I try to find time in my schedule to do each day is read everything interested on ESPN.com’s Major League Baseball section. There are a few big stories going on right now, and I thought I would post my thoughts on each of them. I had planned on posting them all in one post, but it got to be pretty long, so it will be a series tonight. Up first:
Rafael Palmeiro allegedly implicated Miguel Tejada in his steroid suspension hearing. Read the rest of this entry »
I was just reading through Rob Neyer’s chat on ESPN.com from today, and something made me laugh. Someone had asked a question about the whether Mariano Rivera deserves the Cy Young Award, and another person followed up with this gem:
Brian (RI): Ryan, Rob will never admit to that, this guy couldn’t hate the Yankees more then he does. Know matter how good any of there players are he’ll never given them the credit they deserve.
On these ESPN.com chats, for those of you who aren’t familiar with them, the host of the chat (in this case, Neyer) chooses which questions to post. In general, he will post a question and then post his answer. What I loved about this one is that Neyer just posted the comment from Brian in Rhode Island, then moved on. No response, no acknowledgment. He simply let the fact that Brian had three mistakes in two sentences speak for the intelligence of the argument. I love it.
The Washington Nationals suspended a volunteer chaplain, Jon Moeller, for indicating that Jewish people are going to hell. From an article in the Washington Post:
An article in Sunday’s paper about Baseball Chapel quoted [Nationals’ outfielder Ryan] Church as saying that he had turned to Moeller for advice about his former girlfriend, who was Jewish. “I said, like, Jewish people, they don’t believe in Jesus. Does that mean they’re doomed? Jon nodded, like, that’s what it meant. My ex-girlfriend! I was like, man, if they only knew. Other religions don’t know any better. It’s up to us to spread the word,” Church said.
Read the rest of this entry »
On July 19, I wrote a blog entry explaining why I believed that Rafael Palmeiro deserved to be in the Hall of Fame once his playing career was over. Less than two weeks later, Palmeiro was suspended for steroids.
Soon after the end of Palmeiro’s suspension, his agent, Arn Tellem, said:
There is another side to this story, and Raffy will tell it soon. I hope that the public will wait to make a final judgment about Rafael until they hear his story in its entirety.
Well, Arn, we’re waiting. Read the rest of this entry »
I watched a couple innings of the Dodgers/Rockies game on Monday night, and I realized just how bad things have gotten in Colorado. The Dodgers had Jose Cruz Jr. on second, and Mike Edwards hit a base hit to left field. The left-fielder, Matt Holliday, threw the ball in towards home plate, and because Cruz was not attempting to score, the infielder cut the ball off. You know, a standard “hit the cutoff man” play that players have practiced since they were six years old. Well, you wouldn’t know it by the reaction of the Rockies broadcaster on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain (is it still George Frazier? I think so). He promptly began gushing about what a great play it was by Holliday, how wonderful it was that he hit the cutoff man, etc.
I was commenting to my wife how sad it was that the Rockies have sunk so low that the announcers get excited about hitting the cutoff man, but before I could get the sentence out, Dioner Navarro hit a flyout to Cory Sullivan in center field. It was pretty shallow, so Cruz didn’t have a chance to score, so he didn’t try. But Sullivan’s throw went right to Todd Helton, who was standing on the mound playing cutoff man. Golly, did George Frazier ever love that! Two plays in a row that the Rockies outfielders saved the day by doing what they are expected to do!
Even if it hadn’t been the Dodgers, I would have been very pleased when the next batter, Jayson Werth, drove in both Cruz and Edwards with a double. Cut that off, George Frazier.